Source:

Biodiversity Hotspots Website

Did you know that Western Ghats are among the 34 noted 'Biodiversity Hotspots' in the world. That means that Western Ghats are home to a great proportion of plant life that is endemic to the area, greater than 0.5% of the world's total. It also means that this hotspot for biodiversity is in danger as it has lost atleast 70% of its original habitat.

Biodiversity Hotspots is a science to identify key areas of interest as well as areas key areas in danger. This classification allows for focused conservation efforts in these areas. Find out more, 

http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/hotspots/Pages/default.aspx

As a person living in Goa, one of the states that is home to the Western Ghats, this is a reason for me to be proud, to feel fortunate to have the opportunity to enjoy the gifts of nature and indulge in its beauty to improve my quality of life. Well all that is very good, but in the same breath I can't help but worry about protecting this fragile resource that we have been entrusted with...

The following article in today's newspaper brings further attention to the issue. The results of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report headed by noted ecologist Madhav Gadgil has found that the protection of the Western Ghats is key to the sustenance of the rivers in the Indian Peninsula. 245 million people living in the Western Ghats states directly depend of these rivers for all their water needs. The report recommends a complete ban on mining in these states and implementing stricter green laws in other industry. What do we do now, should we wait and watch or do we engage...

Source: Times of India, Goa Edition, March 03, 2012

Read more about the Biodiversity Hotspots in the world, 

http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/hotspots/Pages/default.aspx

Read more about the Biodiversity Hotspot in the Western Ghats, 

http://savegoa.com/you_should_know/forests/biodiversity_hotspots.php#more

To make up for my silence on the blog for the past few weeks and it being Valentine's day and all, I offer you all some exciting pictures from the site that is now in it's finishing stage.

The pictures show the house with some woodwork already up and more on the way. It also shows the pool ready for tiling, deck ready for decking and gardens ready for planting ! Hope you ENJOY them as much as I did !!

The following pictures show the sequence of spacial experiences in the living room:

Living room exterior with the front courtyard with existing trees and most of our amazing team (In front, Contractor Binod Arya and Site Supervisor Manoj Shetgaonkar)

The interior of the living room from the back wall, showing the staircase frame, play of light through the louvered opening, front courtyard with existing trees, the pool, deck and gardens, and the hills beyond.

Part of the front elevation

Partial view of the house with the pool and gardens in the foreground. All the area on the right in the picture will be a planted lawn with a row of trees along the boundary wall.

Detail of the living room with the louvers, exposed basalt wall, monumental room height and the tall existing trees.

I recently came across the term 'Barefoot Luxury' in the

Conde Nast Traveller

magazine. The magazine used it to describe one of the three hotels in their listing of most romantic hotels in Goa.

I was intrigued by the term 'Barefoot Luxury'. At first glance, it could be so appropriately used to describe the design themes and concepts employed by us in the NIVIM house in Goa. But before giving in to liberally using the term to describe our house, I ran some basic internet search. The search resulted in a handful of gorgeous resorts in exotic locations of Seychelles, Australia, Kenya, Morocco, Sri Lanka, St. Lucia, Indonesia and Grenada.

A

website for 'the word lover's guide to new words'

describes Barefoot Luxury as 'comfort and elegance in a relaxed setting'.

Time magazine had an article on Barefoot Luxury in Indonesia

. They described the concept as 'an upmarket restatement of the backpackers beach holiday, stressing simplicity and raw nature'. The article went onto describe a beautiful Indonesian hotel on

Nikoi Island

, where the beach houses are designed using natural driftwood, feature open bathrooms, and with no provision for air-conditioning and televisions. The idea is to return to basics and enjoy the luxury of being reconnected with nature. So far so good...

Other properties used the term to describe luxury that is sustainable and that understands and employs local resources (materials for construction, local worforce for training and employment). Luxury that is elegant yet understated.

Well as it happens, most of the above considerations are in sync with our philosophy behind the house NIVIM Goa. Our core design concept is reconnecting with nature and building in a manner that respects and celebrates our truly glorious and unspoiled surroundings in Goa. Our design is intended to extend comfort and luxury while being true to the land. We want to enhance the relationship of the building with nature and reduce the impact of the building on the surrounding landscape. So I guess the term Barefoot Luxury does aptly apply to us after all !

Closer to home, we just spent a great weekend at the

Wildernest resort in Chorla Ghats in Goa

. I would say it is another great example of Barefoot Luxury.

Picture window view from the valley-view cottage at Wildernest, Goa

The pictures below describe more than I can in words...but here are the subtle items that the pictures miss. Wildernest is built and managed in a way that it utlizes local building materials sourced such that it has the least impact on new resources. Built primarily in wood, the visionary behind Wildernest decided not to cut any new forest for their wood. As a compromise, they have used mostly Acacia wood (from the Australian Acacia variety that is actually an invasive specie in India and does not support biodiversity in the area where they grow). In addition, they sourced all their Acacia from social forests. The second type of wood used is reclaimed wood from old Indian Railway sleepers that the government has been replacing with concrete sleepers. Most paving, no actually all paving outdoors in pervious and hence does not stop the natural flow of water back into the earth. Minimum number of trees were cut during construction and the result is an eco-resort that is neselled within the forest. At most times, it is difficult to see any built structure. Spread over 450 acres, the constructed portion is concentrated in a limited area to reduce the impact of (even their most careful and minimal) construction in the virgin forests.

The deck in the cottage overlooking the forest

Wildernest is the vision of a man, Capt. Nitin Dhond who decided to rally and protect these 450 acres of forest land from being encroched by the surrounding iron ore mines, and resulting loss of agriculture, local livelihood and biodiversity. The hotel is now managed in the most sustainable, friendly and efficient manner. The staff hails from the local villages. They are superbly trained to make the guest feel at home, and often surprise them by pointing out birds, animals and medicial plant species. They offer filtered water in the rooms to reduce the need and use of plastic bottled water. The lovely bathrooms are stocked with herbal powders to be used as soap and shampoo to reduce use and discharge of chemicals. The food served uses mostly local produce and recipes.

During our short stay we saw a Malabar Pied Hornbill, a Brahminy Skink and a Green Vine Snake. We relaxed in the peace and quiet green environs and trekked to a beautiful waterfall. It was Barefoot Luxury at its best and we were left wanting more...

Earthy bathroom with its own picture window overlooking the forest and valley

Dining area at sunset

Deck areas at sunset

Times of India, Goa Edition, December 11, 2011

At the beginning of this month, I heard them arrive. At 4pm one evening there was suddenly lots of activity in my backyard. There was lots of twittering and flashes of colors as the winter migratory birds had arrived.

My backyard in Goa is basically a jungle, so we are now honoured each day with spectacular shows courtesy of these beautiful creatures. The Bulbuls are the friendliest, they que up at my birdbath and one by one jump in, wiggle their bottoms, fluff up to twice their size and then fly away.... The bigger birds don't bother with many cute antics, they stay perched regally on some high branch and glide off most gracefully to survey the salt pans and hunt their catch. Then there are the birds that chase the squirrels and the squirrels that chase the birds... It is all very amusing and calming..

Here are some more common birds that I see in my backyard:

The most well dressed of them all, the Asian Paradise Flycatcher (Photo Credit)

The playful and friendly, Red Whiskered Bulbul (Photo Credit)

The most noisy, Rufus Treepie (Photo Credit)

The calm one, Black Drongo (Photo Credit)

The undisputed king, Brahminy Kite (Photo Credit)

The most colorful, White Throated Kingfisher (Photo Credit)

The tiny, Sunbird (Photo Credit)

One of the bigger birds, the Greater Coucal (Photo Credit)

The beautiful, Eurasian Golden Oriole (Photo Credit)

The Bahia House, Salvador, Brazil designed by Studio MK27 

A

rchitectural Record

, 'the' premier global magazine for architecture and design publishes a selection of homes each year that make the cut. In their selection, the magazine looks for innovation in design along with timelessness in architectural response. While these may sound like seemingly contradictory principles, I guess the ability to be both innovative while being timeless makes an architectural product truly inspiring. Among other factors, the 2011 selection highlighted the responsiveness of the architectural projects to their surrounding landscape. This principle has been the central theme in our design process and thus this year's project selection was of particular interest to us.

Two projects in particular caught our eye. Both are contemporary country homes and share many design principles and concepts that we are using for our house NIVIM in Goa. The interesting aspect is that both houses are built in completely different materials and technology but utilize the same principles of responsiveness to site and relationship to outdoors.

The Bahia House, Salvador, Brazil designed by Studio MK27 

The Montecito Residence, Montecito, California designed by Barton Myers Associates

First is the

Bahia House in Salvador, Brazil

built in clean modernist geometry using earthy vernacular materials stone, wood and clay tile. This house is set around a courtyard and the living spaces are designed to become a part of the surrounding landscape. The living room is designed with sliding double walls, one with screens and another with glass. When both are opened, the living room becomes a part of the surrounding landscape. The screen walls provide privacy but allows air circulation. (All images courtesy 

Architectural Record

)

Floorplan shows the living room shown as "2" being an unobstructed space between the landscape

The living room space is designed to be a part of the surrounding landscape with double walls that slide our of the way. (Note the Rajasthani puppets on the coffee table !)

The second house that I have picked is very different in its language (materials, technology, look and feel) but its purpose still remains the same. The house is the

Montecito Residense in California

, designed by Barton Myers Associates. This house is a glass and steel structure that is designed 'to embrace the garden and not shutter it out'.

The beauty of this house once again lies in the design of the indoors with the outdoors. The living room once again is designed to completely open to the outside, this time with 20-foot wide steel and glass doors that open mechanically and fit under the roof when opened. In the floorplan, notice how the architect has designed the outdoor terrace to be bigger than the indoor living room clearly indicating the importance of outdoor living.

The living room completely open to the outdoor through mechanically pivoted doors

The structure is designed completely in glass and steel with the aim to open it to the outdoors

We like the way the structural metal is left exposed. We enjoy the honesty of material and clarity in design

15,000 miles in 4 weeks

In the last week, I have been to Singapore, attended a wedding in Mumbai, a funeral in Ajmer (Rajasthan) and entertained friends in Goa. If I include three more weeks then I have also been through New York, Germany and Delhi. While I was traveling some 15,000 miles across 3 continents, 4 countries and 10 cities, my team back in Goa were continuing their efforts to move along the design and construction on-site. Thanks to the "flat world" brought to us by information technology, I was able to run my job-site seamlessly amid all the travels. We continued our project meetings through Skype and construction monitoring through bi-weekly digital photography.

What got left behind were my regular construction blog posts and I hope to make up for it in the coming weeks.

I like this photo a lot as it shows how the fully built structure of the house is completely hidden by the exiting foliage on site. The pool pavilion structure on the left is designed as a light structure built completely in wood and steel.

Here is an update@ week 45? There has been good progress and have completed the steel framing for all the openings and the wood rafters for the sloping wood and tile roofs (above LHS guest bedroom and master bedroom). In addition to this we now have a large team of carpenters who are busy preparing lovely teak wood for the fixed louvers and sliding doors.

Pool pavilion as seen from the living room in the main house

The pavilion block is shaping up really well too and the steel frame structure is almost completed. This structure will then be topped by wood rafters and then a sloping roof membrane.

All this while, the electrical points, plumbing and waterproofing is also being carried out. The site in general is buzzing with activity with civil work, woodwork, electrical and plumbing all happening simultaneously.

Fruiting Tamarind tree on-site

The weather in Goa has already turned to it's annual best. Winter weather in Goa can be compared with Spring or early Fall weather in New York. One is treated each morning by a clear blue sky, light filtered sun that makes everything shine and a cool soft breeze. This is a time when we can now conduct our project meetings on-site at the deck area offering a glimpse to the glorious moments the house will present once it is ready for use.

Tamarinds from our tree ! 

In other news, the tamarind trees on site are fruiting and there are countless tamarinds on-site. We have 2 full grown tamarind trees on-site. There is also a tree on-site that gives a fruit called Tehfa. This fruits smell and look like tiny lemons first and then breaks open to produce black peppercorn like seeds. The fruit is used specially to cook a special Goan Mackerel curry. The one tree on-site has enough fruit to feed curry to the entire village!

We recently traveled through Germany thoroughly enjoying the German beer, extensive history, and their love for art and contemporary architecture. Cosmopolitan, quirky and free Berlin stood out as the star in our travels.

What makes Berlin more interesting than other European or north American city is it's relative newness and it's free spirit. After a long and painful history that culminated with the second world war and then continued with the cold war, the City of Berlin as we know today restarted rebuilding it's legacy in 1990. That is what I mean by the newness. As the city decided to move on, it began by accepting its history and then marching forward with a liberated spirit. The present spirit of Berlin seems more free as the freedom was hard to come by.

Berlin is a big city. It takes a while to get your arms around it. It is teaming with life but still feels empty when one is used to New York, Delhi or Mumbai. Berlin is also a city of neighborhoods that are at various stages of gentrification. The more interesting neighborhoods are the nearly gentrified Prenzlauer Berg and still gentrifying Kruezberg and Friedrichshain.

Bali inspired courtyard at Boutique Hotel Ackselhaus housed in a historic building in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin

We stayed at 

Ackselhaus and Blue Home

, a boutique hotel located in two historic buildings in Prenzlauer Berg. Both buildings have been lovingly restored by the owners. But the real treat is to see how contemporary elements have been woven into the historic character of the buildings. One of the buildings has a notable tropical Balinese resort feel. It was refreshing to see seemingly disparate elements of design (Historic European, Contemporary, Tropical) all put together in a unique style statement.

Sunroom in the courtyard with salvaged iron columns from old train station in Berlin and a Balinese daybed

Now let us talk about my favorite part, the contemporary architecture that dots the city of Berlin. One can name any master architect and they have built in Berlin. The history of the city along with its relative newness has allowed architects to build beyond barriers. The result is a refreshing collection of contemporary architecture that spans museums, residential and commercial buildings.

Eisenman's Holocaust Museum in Berlin with Gehry's DZ Bank building in the background

The old and the new building at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Later designed by Daniel Lebiskind

The best of them all was without doubt is the Jewish Museum building by Master-Architect Daniel Lebiskiend (DL). DL was also the very deserving winning architect for the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero in New York. His creation at Ground Zero would have been a piece of art, an apt addition to the New York skyline but sadly the present design and resulting stump of a building is a political compromise that does nothing to advance design and architecture.

The exterior of the Jewish Museum building is clad in Zinc that is oxidizing to give it a blueish color

But I diverge, coming back to the Jewish Museum building in Berlin. I will take a pause to say this - according to me 

the Jewish Museum is the best building in the world today

 ! This is a big distinction and the reason I say this is two-fold; one is the ability that the built space has to evoke emotional reactions and second is the limitless extent of design thought and detail that has gone into this building. My reaction to this building is contrary to my proponance for minimalism and the idea of keeping design simple and lucid. The Jewish Museum is a severely complex building but the beauty of it is that everywhere you look one is presented with perfect example of design work where complex geometries, materials and play of light are prefectly composed into multi-dimensional multiple frames of architectural space. The typical problem with complexity in design is that buidlings can very easily look over-designed and it is mostly difficult to justify the complexity. Mostly complexity in design makes it difficult for various elements to come together and the core concept or design driver is lost. None of the above are a problem at the Jewish Museum. DL has built a building that is complex yet true to its central design thought, and the building inside and outside leaves a lasting impact on the viewer/ inhabitant. The building has the ability to evoke strong emotional reactions that are linked to the design concepts weaved into the building.

Words cannot do justice to the building, neither can images, but here are some to offer a taste of what the magnificent piece of architecture has to offer.

Exhibition galleries at lower level where three conceptual axis intersect

Exhibition galleries at lower level where three conceptual axis intersect

Windows seen from inside the gallery space

Window detail

Staircase ceiling detail

Core vertical circulation that connects the gallery space at 3 levels

The framing is going up for the skin of our extra large 11 meter wide living room openings.

OMG! How does one build like this... 

The pictures above show the twisted, bent and warped facades of the stainless steel clad Frank Gehry's Beekman Towers, Frank Gehry's IAC Headquarters, Jean Nouvel's 100 11th Ave, and Thom Mayne's new Academic Building at Cooper Union, all in New York.

The question I ask is not how one thinks of these buildings, dreams them up at night or during a drunken creative breakthrough. The key question for me is how does one take these magnificent forms from paper to reality. Maybe I am jaded. But the quest to understand design to execution has dictated my professional journey, where I started as an architect who believed that design was supreme and then went on to studying and practicing as a city planner and real estate professional in an attempt to unravel the processes that translate design dreams to reality. I still think that design is supreme but really it can be so much more if implemented correctly on budget and on time. My architect friends may hate me for saying this but in a way I am their biggest proponent. I think that architects are supremely talented, way ahead of the times, and therefore I believe that their creations need to be built so the world can be a better place.

Renderings showing the proposed Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York

So going back to the question of 'How does one build like this?'. The above rendering shows the new Barclays Center under construction in Brooklyn, New York. The project is being built by developer Forest City Ratner as part of the very controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, New York. Interestingly, I had the opportunity to work with their parent company Forest City Enterprises in 2008-09 on mill redevelopment projects as part of the development team. Forest City Ratner is also the developer for the stately Beekman Towers (image on top).

Detail of the facade at Barclays Center made with pre-weathered metal lattice

Last week, I attended a talk by Jonathan Mallie from SHoP Architects and Construction who are the architects on the job and are facilitating the construction.

The building's external form is designed with concentric helical bands that are superimposed on each other. To mask this snaking form, the building will be skinned with a weathering steel latticework system. The lattice system goes over a glass curtain wall. Before installation, the metal lattice panels are pre-weathered to obtain a patina that makes them look older (weathered) in a design attempt to resemble the historic brownstones of Brooklyn.

And here is the kicker in the whole story, the proposed skin is comprised of 12,000 uniquely designed mega panels; each unique in size, shape, and individual pattern of folds and bends. Yes, I know....CRAZY ! Imagine implementing something like this. Imagine manufacturing each panel individually, imagine producing 12,000 individual drawings for each panel and then imagine coordinating the whole process, managing delivery and installation....

Photo of the lattice panels being installed on-site at Barclays Center

How does one go about a challenge like this? In this case, SHoP Architects have a sister company called SHoP Construction who played the key role of coordinating all design and construction efforts. They employed technology and created a Catia based 3-dimensional model that integrated all the building components with a back end database that recorded the details of each component (so size, individual design and special characteristics). As an example of attention to detail, SHoP actually analyzed the optimum size of panels and optimum stacking for road transportation (panels are being manufactured in Indianapolis and the project is in New York, 700 miles away from each other). After this exercise, they actually modified the design of the lattice panels to ensure efficient transportation. This is also an example of how an entity like ShoP Construction was critical to project implementation that allowed for communication between designers, manufacturers and contractors, who in spite of being in the same industry generally speak different languages, meaning have very different roles, scope of work and motivations.

The centralized model and database was also used to generate the 12,000 unique drawings for individual panels. And then they did another cool thing, implemented another idea that has probably never been done before.. Each panel was assigned and identified by a bar code. So each drawing had a bar code that was repeated to tag the panel once manufactured, was scanned when the panel was put on the truck to be transported to site, again scanned when it reached site and then again once it was installed. Taking it all the way, this electronic information was then made available real-time through a project website that kept all team members from the owner, architect, manufacturer, contractor up to date on where each of the 12,000 panels were at any given point in time. All this is so cool, that I just can't type fast enough to tell you all about it... just thinking about it makes me jittery with excitement...Oh and of course, the electronic tracking system was also available to the project team as an IPhone application... 

Learning about these wonderful stimulating innovations in design and implementation left me wanting more...The mantra to successful project implementation is seamless communication between all parties. With technology this communication can improve by leaps and bounds. For our project, we rely on digital photographs, skype calls and in-person meetings with all project leaders. It works well for now, but I will end the post hoping that in the future we will endevour to design and build more complex buildings and embrace cutting edge technology to do the same.

Read more about,

The weathering process for lattice panels

 at Barclays Center

Video of construction sequencing at Barclays Center

Read New York Times architectural review of,

Frank Gehry's Beekman Towers

Frank Gehry's IAC Headquarters

Jean Nouvel's 100 11th Ave

Morphosis's Cooper Union New Academic Building